Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) campaigned for Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) on the eve of the Senate Republican primary in Alabama, AL.com reports.
Iran Revolutionary Guard Colonel Shot Dead
” A senior member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard was killed outside his home in Tehran on Sunday by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Although the Guard gave only scant detail about the attack that occurred in broad daylight in the heart of Iran’s capital, the group blamed the killing on ‘global arrogance,’ typically code for the United States and Israel.”
“That accusation, as well as the style of the brazen killing, raised the possibility of a link with other motorbike slayings previously attributed to Israel in Iran, such as those targeting the country’s nuclear scientists. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.”
Florida Law on Social Media Found Unconstitutional
“A Florida law intended to punish social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, dealing a major victory to companies who had been accused by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis of discriminating against conservative thought,” the AP reports.
Pennsylvania GOP Extends 2020 Election Inquiry
“Republicans in the Pennsylvania Legislature are extending their inquiry into the state’s 2020 presidential election inspired by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud,” WHYY reports.
“The contract is to last for another six months, through Nov. 18, under an extension signed last week by Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, the Senate Republicans’ general counsel, and the Senate’s chief clerk.”
Arizona GOP Fails to Ban Ballot Drop Boxes
“An impassioned effort by some Arizona Senate Republicans to ban the use of ballot drop boxes failed,” the AP reports.
“About 90% of Arizona voters cast early ballots, either through the mail, at early voting sites or by using drop boxes put in place by county election officials. Those boxes are most important in the week before an election, when there is doubt a mail-in ballot will reach the local election department in time.”
GOP Sides with Mehmet Oz In Ballot Case
The national Republican Party is taking the side of Mehmet Oz (R) in Pennsylvania’s neck-and-neck GOP primary contest for U.S. Senate and opposing a lawsuit that could help David McCormick (R) close the gap in votes, the AP reports.
Trump Is Slowly Losing His Stranglehold on Republicans
Edward Luce: “This is not an obituary of Donald Trump. He still has a plausible shot at becoming the first ex-president to be re-elected since Grover Cleveland in 1892. But politics is about momentum — and the energy behind Trump is dissipating. The bad news for Trump’s detractors is that his ‘MAGA’ base is not fading. The Kraken lives on. It just no longer shows such deference to the man in Mar-a-Lago.”
“Trump’s handicap is that he is obsessed with one issue — that he was cheated by Joe Biden of his rightful election victory in 2020. Most Republican voters share in that belief, which is a litmus test for candidates. Yet the stolen election myth is their politics’ starting point, not its be-all and end-all. By confining himself to rigged elections, Trump is forgetting Maga’s animating spirit, which is hatred of America’s cultural elites.”
“When Trump’s monomania backfires, it leaves him looking weak.”
New York City Bids to Hold Democratic Convention
“Eight years after New York City’s failed attempt to host the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Eric Adams is giving it another shot,” Politico reports.
“The Democratic mayor is entering a national contest with his counterparts from Chicago, Atlanta and other cities to host the presidential nominating convention in 2024.”
Biden Cleans Up His Taiwan Comments
“President Biden said he would maintain longstanding U.S. policy toward Taiwan, a day after triggering global confusion when he said the U.S. would respond militarily to any effort by China to take the island by force,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Biden: “My policy has not changed at all.”
The New York Times notes this is the third time Biden has suggested that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China attacked — and in each instance, his remarks prompted a staff scramble to clean it up.
Michael Bennet Braces for a Red Wave
“How precarious is Senate Democrats’ majority? Just ask Colorado’s Michael Bennet,” Politico reports.
“The low-key Democratic senator hails from a state that President Joe Biden won by 13 points. His in-state colleague, Sen. John Hickenlooper, won by 9 points in 2020 against a Republican incumbent. Yet Bennet has an ominous warning for any Democrat feeling optimistic about holding the majority and even expanding it in November.”
Said Bennet: “When you’re in the same party as the president, that’s gonna be a tough cycle.”
David McCormick Sues to Allow Undated Ballots
Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick (R) filed suit to try to force the state to count undated absentee and mail-in ballots in the very tight primary between him and Mehmet Oz (R), the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Trump’s Candidate Way Behind In Georgia
If the polls are correct, Donald Trump is set to suffer a humiliating endorsement loss in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary today, Politico reports.
“The Republican base is poised to take a turn delivering Trump a stinging rebuke in a state where, during his presidency, the GOP lost two Senate seats, two House seats and the state’s Electoral College votes for the first time since the mid-1990s.”
Playbook: “For Trump, the risk is not simply that his favored candidate could lose. It’s that a defeat here could further erase the sense of him as an untouchable GOP kingmaker. If Perdue goes down, it’ll be the third time this year that a Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate has been defeated in a GOP primary.”
Quote of the Day
“If Trump is alive, Biden is running.”
— A longtime adviser to President Biden, quoted by New York magazine, on the 2024 presidential race.
Kellyanne Conway Admits Trump Lost the Election
“One of Donald Trump’s most steadfast aides acknowledges in a new book that the president lost the 2020 election and says he was ill-advised by campaign staff and the election deniers who surrounded him,” Politico reports.
Writes Kellyanne Conway: “Despite the mountains of money Trump had raised, his team simply failed to get the job done. A job that was doable and had a clear path, if followed. Rather than accepting responsibility for the loss, they played along and lent full-throated encouragement (privately, not on TV) when Trump kept insisting he won.”
“The team had failed on November 3, and they failed again afterward. By not confronting the candidate with the grim reality of his situation, that the proof had not surfaced to support the claims, they denied him the evidence he sought and the respect he was due. Instead supplicant after sycophant after showman genuflected in front of the Resolute Desk and promised the president goods they could not deliver.”
Questions About Fetterman’s Campaign Trail Prospects
New York Times: “With such an important race in the balance, one that could decide the Senate majority, the state of Mr. Fetterman’s health is of intense public interest. Yet, despite repeated requests, his campaign did not make him or his doctors available to discuss his stroke and his medical treatment.”
“And specialists in stroke, heart disease and electrophysiology said that some of the campaign’s public statements do not offer a sufficient explanation for Mr. Fetterman’s described diagnosis or the treatment they say he has received.”
Border Crossings Continue to Soar
New York Times: “Already though, many of the thousands of migrants crossing each day are being let in — of the record 234,088 migrants who arrived in April, nearly half were released into the country for various reasons, including humanitarian exceptions to the public health order and insufficient detention space.”
“In some cases, the government cannot expel people — Cubans and Venezuelans, for example — because it has no diplomatic relations with the country of origin.”
Economy Now Bigger Priority than Russia Response
A new AP-NORC poll finds Americans “are becoming less supportive of punishing Russia for launching its invasion of Ukraine if it comes at the expense of the U.S. economy, a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges.”
“Now 45% of U.S. adults say the nation’s bigger priority should be sanctioning Russia as effectively as possible, while slightly more — 51% — say it should be limiting damage to the U.S. economy.”
“In April, those figures were exactly reversed. In March, shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, a clear majority — 55% — said the bigger priority should be sanctioning Russia as effectively as possible.”
Democrats Will Miss Date for Deal with Manchin
“Democrats are set to blow through the soft Memorial Day deadline for reaching a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on a slimmed-down budget reconciliation bill to raise taxes, fight climate change and lower the cost of prescription drugs,” The Hill reports.
“Senate Democratic sources say there’s no chance of getting a deal this week but they argue that doesn’t necessarily mean the negotiations over a long-awaited budget reconciliation package are doomed.”
